It was clearly more than just a half a century that separated the two events and two men; there was also a massive political chasm. Beck, a controversial figure who has said Barack Obama is a racist who hates white culture, has claimed his rally is non-political and that the timing of it with King's anniversary was an accident. But few take him at his word.

Beck's television show, radio programme and speaking tours are constantly devoted to the idea that Obama and senior Democrats are closet socialists, or even communists, dedicated to forcibly transforming America into a leftwing society.